Lookg Back at the Mistreatment of Marvel's First Gay Comic Superhero

Contents:

• A CHRONOLOGY OF GAY COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS
• LOOKG BACK AT THE MISTREATMENT OF MARVEL’S FIRST GAY COMIC SUPERHERO

A CHRONOLOGY OF GAY COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS

Mastream ics have had more than their fair share of homosexual subtext almost sce their ceptn — look no further than Wonr Woman’s all-female homeland of Paradise Island or Bce Wayne’s overly fortable relatnship wh his ward Dick Grayson. In honor of the news that Archie ics troduced s first openly gay character last week, here’s a look back at the evolutn of open homosexualy mastream ic books. NorthstarIt’s not exactly a stretch to see the anti-mutant bigotry found the world of the X-Men as a thly veiled metaphor for homophobia — mutants are lled “homo superr, ” after all.

It’s strange, then, that the first openly gay major character the Marvel stable hails om the Canadian super-team Alpha Flight.

LOOKG BACK AT THE MISTREATMENT OF MARVEL’S FIRST GAY COMIC SUPERHERO

Although some of the scen centerg around their relatnship seem a ltle tone af by today’s standards, Midnighter and Apollo broke new ground as the first ma characters of a mastream ic to publicly portray a gay Pied PiperThe Pied Piper, a mic-themed Flash rogue wh a hypnotic flute, is one of the first openly gay supervillas to not be played for lghs — we’re lookg at you, Estraño.

Later renamed the X-Statix, the team boasted a roster featurg no fewer than three gay characters: a mutant wh the power to alter his abili by changg the lor of his sk, an Emem pastiche who uld alter his nsy, size, and shape by manipulatg his own subcutaneo fat, and a werewolf.